


Cascade

by HopefulNebula



Category: Exit/Corners (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternative Perspective, Character Study, Gen, Missing Scene, Panic Attacks, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:08:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28078227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopefulNebula/pseuds/HopefulNebula
Summary: Aether might be drowning, but it's not just in the elevator.(Aether's point of view from the elevator scene in "That Sinking Feeling".)
Relationships: Ink Greer & Aether Irving
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Cascade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GaleWrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaleWrites/gifts).



It's so strong today. Aether can't remember another time when her uncanny ability to know things she shouldn't has been quite this powerful.

(That thought kind of surprises Aether, because she's surprised she can remember anything beyond the elevator walls closing in around her and the water beginning to pool around her ankles.)

She forces her eyes open, tries to process the screen in front of her. All she can see is the shadows of Ink's hands as he moves the puzzle tiles around. 

_Focus, Aether. You can do this,_ comes a voice from somewhere deep inside her. And she almost believes it. It isn't quite her own inner voice (she knows that one well), but it also isn't her father's (which has loomed in her memory as long as she's been around). Her father would never have that much faith in her. That's why she's in Bellbridge in the first place - or _was_ , until today.

Aether tries to move her hands, to at least look like she's doing something to help Ink, but thinking about moving her body just means she's also thinking about how the water is up to her knees, which means the elevator is even smaller now, and she wonders whether the water will cover Ink's scar before the screen shorts out. This time the voice in her head is _entirely_ her father's, as it reminds her how pathetic she is for almost blabbing someone else's private business to his face. She sets that thought aside to deal with later (if "later" ever happens).

She opens her eyes again. Her hands are shaking too hard to help, but she can at least watch. She will. _There's a space there_ , whispers her inner voice. _Fill it in._ But she can't bring herself to do it. She can't feel her fingers. For all her brain knows, they aren't even there anymore. Maybe they never have been. In this space, she can't really tell.

Ink says something to her about the shape of the arrow, and Aether hears herself responding. But she can't bring herself to understand the words she's saying.

Aether's mind drifts to the past again. That voice rises again within her, not quite her own inner voice and not quite a memory. A professor's voice? A friend's? Her own, from the past? _The first step to overcoming fear is to understand it_. Well, that much is easy. She's spent too much of her life in the darkness. She breathes in. But the present is not the past. There has to be a way out of this, and what she needs right now is to find that way. She knows she can help, if she can hold herself together enough to remember who she is and what her priorities are.

 _My name is Aether Irving,_ she tells herself. She inhales deeply once again. _I don't know exactly where I am, but I know I can survive this. I have to believe it._ She exhales, silently counting out the length of the breath. _My friend Ink is in the elevator with me. Together, we're going to find the way out of here._ She relaxes her hands, unclenching her fingers from her hood. She still can't bring herself to move them away from her chest just yet, but it's a good start.

She breathes in one more time, a deeper and more solid breath than she's been able to manage since the water started seeping into the elevator cab.

In the here and now, Aether knows there is mortal danger to face. But this time she's not hiding in a cupboard, not pretending to be asleep under the bedsheets. There is a goal here, and she can take a step toward that. She just has to take control of her own body first. One step at a time. That voice comes back. _The next time you experience panic, try to name one thing you can see. One thing you can hear. One thing..._

She can see the silhouette of Ink's head in front of her. The puzzle in its current state looks like the kind of art Beth puts on her walls. (Aether assumes that's yet another thought to keep for later.) She can hear the screen buzz as Ink tries an incorrect answer. She can taste the staleness of the air, and smell the dankness and pressure of the chamber (is it just the water rising or is the elevator genuinely shrinking? She still can't tell). And she can feel... it's not just her clothes and the water. There's something else there, out beyond the panic. Some kind of pull in her mind. Aether decides to trust herself for just a moment longer, and lets herself follow the flow of her thoughts. 

Aether doesn't know why, but the storm in her mind seems a little calmer when she thinks about the man in the elevator cab with her. She really is glad he's there, even though she'd prefer it if their circumstances were less deadly. She doesn't need her... whatever her abilities are... to know that he's the kind of person who would be doing everything he could to help her through this panic attack if he weren't so focused on the puzzle on that damn screen.

The realization seems to happen in slow motion: as long as she stays focused on Ink, or on the puzzle in front of her, she feels better. She still doesn't feel great, not by any means, but the thought gives her mind an anchor to hold onto. This is something she can work with.

She takes a step forward, trying to ignore the splashing of the water below her (and how soaked her clothes are going to be when they get out of the elevator). Through the fog on her glasses, she can see that Ink currently has the puzzle pieces arranged in two sections, with all the filled-in pieces toward the bottom. It kind of looks like a sailboat. Aether doesn't dare spend too much time thinking about _why_ , but she knows that Ink has the wrong idea with that one. It's a good one, but it's the _wrong_ one, and she knows this because in her mind - somewhere in between the fear and the adrenaline and the storm of memories that's been overtaking her - somewhere she sees how it all fits together.

She has a chance to make this right, and she's going to use it. She can always figure out why after they get out of the hotel.

The voice in her head as the elevator starts its upward climb belongs entirely to herself: _sometimes your knowledge is a gift. It would be a shame to waste it._ And even though her hands are still shaking and her socks are still waterlogged, she has to smile at the thought.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic came entirely out of my replaying the game and discovering that Aether solves the elevator puzzle on her own if you ask for enough hints.
> 
> And for the record, you can totally rearrange the tiles in that puzzle to look like a boat.


End file.
